Christopher Dorner: LA police end hunt after body found

California police have ended the manhunt for an ex-Los Angeles policeman accused of murder, a day after finding a charred body in a cabin where he was thought to be hiding.

San Bernardino Sheriff John McMahon said police could not yet identify the remains as those of Christopher Dorner.

But "we believe this investigation is over at this point", he said.

Dorner is accused of killing three last week and engaging in a gun battle with officers as they closed in on Tuesday.

'War zone'

The manhunt ended on Tuesday afternoon, after police received word that a man matching Dorner's description had stolen a vehicle in the area of Big Bear Lake, a ski resort 80 miles (130km) east of Los Angeles.

Officers pursued the suspect, who took refuge in the cabin on a snowy, wooded mountain. The suspect fired on police as they surrounded him, in a scene Sheriff McMahon likened to a war zone.

"The rounds kept coming but the deputies didn't give up," he said at a news conference on Wednesday. "Our deputy sheriffs are true heroes."

The manifesto meaning

In suicides, says Jack Digliani, a police psychologist with the Loveland, Colorado Police Department, police officers are more likely to leave a note than the general population. Dorner left a manifesto, sent to a media station before he allegedly committed his first crimes.

"In many cases, a manifesto reads like a suicide note," says Digliani. Dorner's lengthy manifesto, he said, had similar hallmarks, including a section thanking those who helped him. The manifesto, says Digliani, also offers insight into how Dorner could have turned from cop to criminal.

"It's [presented as] a righteous cause," he says. "It's two-fold. One is to change the LAPD, the other is to reclaim his name and his reputation. This is the avenger/crusader perspective: 'I don't want to do this, but it's the only way to accomplish the goal.'"